Sierra Chemical Reaches Settlement with Nevada -- Civil Suits Pending

By Merylee Robbins

Published on October 26, 2005

While Sierra Chemical's original fines total $997,500 for 38 safety violations discovered by state occupation safety officials after the blast, the company will pay only $228,500 according to the terms of the recent settlement. Sierra continues to deny responsibility for the explosion and maintains the state's findings are flawed. The company maintains that the two explosions were acts of sabotage despite the state's discovery of evidence indicating otherwise.

Upon examining workplace safety at the plant, state occupational safety officials concluded proper training was not given to employees, who are primarily Spanish speakers, and there was a lack of management oversight. All safety materials and employee manuals were written in English, leading officials to question the effectiveness of safety and operational training. Officials also became aware of a system which paid employees based on the number the number of explosives they assembled. This system could have encouraged employees to disregard safety guidelines to increase production and in turn boost pay.

A group of workers who sustained burn injuries and other bodily harm in the blast, as well as the widow of one of the workers killed in the explosions have filed a civil suit against Sierra Chemical. Their suit alleges that Sierra preferred to hire non-English speaking employees as they would be less likely to report unsafe working conditions due to fear of deportation -- making Sierra responsible for the safety hazards that lead to the explosions.

Comment on this article →